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Sixth grader shares ideas for being mayor

Jake Moore, left, Dawson County Middle School student, talks to acting mayor James Grogan last month in the G.L. Pete Gilleland Council Chambers at city hall.
- photo by Chelsea Thomas Dawson Community News

Chelsea Thomas

Updated:
May 16, 2012, 4 a.m.

Dawson County Middle School student Jake Moore won the "If I Were Mayor, I Would. . ." essay contest for Dawsonville last month.

Originally organized by the Georgia Municipal Association, the statewide contest asks sixth grade students to write about what they would do if they were their city's mayor.

Moore said he would build a year-round indoor aquatic center.

"Don't you wish you could go swimming anytime of the year you wanted," he wrote. "An aquatic center would make that possible for the citizens of Dawson County."

Moore explained in his essay that the first step to getting the aquatic center would be talking to the board of commissioners.

"I would need to negotiate with them, so I would tell them how it would let the kids do the summer activities they love during the winter," he wrote.

His secondary steps would include creating a SPLOST and asking for private donations. Moore thinks the center would be an economic booster too.

"We need to help our community because unemployment is high, many activities are expensive and having an aquatic center will boost the economy. This center will give the citizens a place to come and have fun in a healthy way all year long," Moore wrote.

Acting mayor James Grogan thought an indoor aquatic center was a great, creative idea. He invited Moore and his teacher Caroline Bridges to visit the Dawsonville Municipal Complex to meet him and Councilman Chris Gaines.

Moore, who plays basketball in his free time, said he would also aim to build a shopping center in historic downtown if he were mayor. He wants something smaller and more local than the outlets.

Moore was amongst more than 6,200 students statewide who wrote an essay detailing what they would do if they were leaders in their cities, according to the municipal association's Web site.